1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to interactive displays for interfacing with users and, more particularly, to a graphical user interface, display and control system for configuring and monitoring a complex system having a number of inter-related components, such as a local or a wide area network.
2. Prior Art
In data communications, a local area network (LAN) is a high-speed communications network that operates over a limited geographical area, typically an office building or a college campus. The use of LANs is becoming increasingly popular because they provide the computer user with the opportunity to communicate with other workers, to supply and access data, and to share expensive peripherals, hard-disk storage devices, sophisticated printers, etc.
With individual LAN islands continuing to proliferate among multiple corporate locations, the need to interconnect them has become increasingly apparent. Often, the connectivity vehicle is a wide area network (WAN).
WANs are communications networks that operate over wide geographical areas. Although WANs share some similarities with LANs, WANs differ from LANs in terms of raw speed and distance; that is, LANs support transmission rates of 1 to 100 Mb/s and higher over relatively short distances, while today's WAN technology is capable of supporting worldwide transmission at rates that are orders of magnitude less.
Internetworking of LANs is normally accomplished through the use of devices such as bridges, routers, or gateways, depending upon which layer of the seven-layer OSI reference model the data transfer is to occur. In addition, IBM's LAN to LAN Wide Area Network program (LTLW) enables a station using the IBM NETBIOS protocol on one LAN to communicate with a station using the IBM NETBIOS protocol on another LAN by sending the frames across a WAN that connects the two LANs. IBM's LTLW program is described in greater detail in the IBM LAN To LAN Wide Area Network Program User's Guide (1st Edition).
The evolution of larger and faster LAN configurations has resulted in the need for interconnecting LANs from various locations to make even larger LAN networks. As the population of interconnected LANs grows, however, the management of the subnetworks of interconnected LANs becomes much more complex and confusing to the network manager or node user. Thus, it is especially important for the interface between the computer and the user to be easy to learn and understand so that it promotes error-free performance and user satisfaction with the system.
At present, three styles of information presentation are utilized for interfacing with the computer user: (1) text presentation; (2) menus; and (3) graphics. The first style, text presentation, focuses on users whose interactions with a computer involve reading or searching through files of text. The display of written text on computer screens poses some problems for the user. For instance, computer screens are generally harder to read than paper. Furthermore, since the computer is not a book, the user does not have physical-location cues, i.e., there is no sense of how long an article is, or where the reader is, in the context of the article or program. In addition, physical configurations, such as LAN to LAN interconnection configurations or computer hardware configurations, are difficult to portray in text.
The second style of information presentation, the menu-driven display, remains the prototypical form of information presentation for novice users of computers. Because selecting items from menus eliminates the need to memorize computer commands and syntax, having choices presented as selectable items from a menu is especially helpful to users who are unfamiliar with the applications or with computer languages. However, the use of the menu-driven program, especially for the knowledgeable user, can result in scrolling through numerous, unnecessary menus before the menu with the appropriate selectable items appears. This is time-consuming and frustrating. Also, as with text presentation, physical configurations are difficult to portray via menus.
The graphical interface is typically used either to conduct a dialog with the computer or to display data. A graphical user dialog with the computer can occur by the direct manipulation of icons. The graphical representation is effective as it is easy to use and provides continuous direct feedback to the user that reflects the actions being taken. With direct manipulation, actions are rapid, immediately visible and easily reversible. In addition, icons are generally more informative and easier to manipulate in a graphical environment than verbal labels for objects.
In LAN management systems, each of the three styles of information presentation have been utilized, the graphical interface being the most effective. For example, Hewlett Packard utilizes a topological map of a network for providing the status of each network element in its OpenView and Node Manager application. The OpenView and Node Manager utilizes free-form graphics for representing each node in the network and its various interconnections with the remaining nodes in the network. The representation of each network element may be positioned anywhere on the computer screen by the user and, at any time, be selected for a display of the element's network interconnect status. IBM's LAN Network Manager employs a similar free-form graphical representation of the network for monitoring purposes.
These types of graphics are especially effective in monitoring the complex variables and relationships between the various LANs in the network. However, the graphics interfaces provided by each of these programs provide a topological map of the network, each network element being selectively positioned about the computer screen by the user. The interfaces provide a graphical representation of the network as a whole without focusing on a particular element or node in the network. The connections between each of the network nodes to the other network nodes is shown on the display. Quite clearly, as the particular network being monitored or configured grows, the clarity of the graphical interface becomes more obscure as network connections begin to appear to run together. This can be quite confusing to an unsophisticated user whose sole desire is to monitor the network status of his own terminal.
Furthermore, because these types of programs utilize free-form graphics, or graphics in which the icons representing the network nodes, for instance, are selectively positioned by the user anywhere on the display, much processor time is consumed. As a result, the device monitoring the activities of the network is limited as to the number of additional functions it can perform. In the present examples, the Hewlett Packard OpenView and Node Manager and the IBM LAN Network Manager programs are utilized in devices whose sole function is configuring and/or monitoring the network. In particular, the network management device running the Hewlett Packard OpenView and Node Manager or the IBM LAN Network Manager program is connected to one of the LANs, in a manner similar to any of the LAN's stations, and acts to configure the network and to monitor the network's activities. Because of the processor time involved in presenting the free-form graphical interface, the network management device cannot provide additional functions to the network. For example, the network management device cannot, in addition, function as an interconnect device between the associated LAN and the WAN because the interconnect device requires substantial processor time to interface the LAN and WAN protocols.
Present graphics interfaces are inadequate in other areas as well. For example, in order to operate a software package with a particular workstation, it may be necessary to prepare a configuration program in accordance with hardware installed in the workstation. An example of this is IBM's Local Area Network Asynchronous Connection Server Version 2.0 (LANACS 2.0) software package.
In order to utilize such a program, it is necessary to configure the workstation, or server, with information necessary for operating, for example, with an asynchronous port and the software interface desired, and for providing the status display panels and service logs. To configure a server, a configuration file must be created. The configuration file defines parameters for the server, the adapter cards it contains, and the LAN and asynchronous connections to the server.
In the past, the configuration file had to be created by the user manually keying in the relevant data, i.e., various parameters for the server, the adapter cards it contains and the LAN and asynchronous connections to the server. Tables 1 and 2 illustrate sample configuration files which the user would have to create so that the program may be utilized.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ (Prior Art) ______________________________________ disp type=status refresh.sub.-- rate=30 new.sub.-- page=19-1bH con type=console keyboard=unlocked connect disp to con INCOMING XTALKS7 type=NETBIOS orientation=ORIGINATE protocol=ACSI nametype=UNIQUE MODEM7 type=RTICM orientation=ANSWER adapter=0 port=7 mode=FIXED speed=1200 parity=ODD data bits=7 connect MODEM7 to TALKS7 Request Manager REQM1 type-REQMGR service=Crosstalk service.sub.-- netname=XTALK ______________________________________
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ (Prior Art) ______________________________________ disp type=status refresh.sub.-- rate=30 new.sub.-- page=-19-1bH con type=console keyboard=unlocked connect disp to con OUTGOING XTALKS7 type=NETBIOS orientation=ANSWER protocol=ACSI nametype=UNIQUE H1200 type=RTICM orientation=ORIGINATE adapter=0 port=7 mode=FIXED asserted.sub.-- leads=DSR connect XTALKS7 to H1200 Request Manager REQM1 type=REQMGR pool=TOREMOTES devices=H1200 netname=MODEMS nametype=UNIQUE target=XTALK pool=TOREMOTES phone=86659 speed=1200 parity=ODD data.sub.-- bits=7 ______________________________________
Obviously, the requirement that the user create such a configuration file resulted in data entry and keystroke error. Furthermore, the complexity of the data and connectivity options resulted in a requirement for extensive user knowledge of the underlying hardware operations and connectivity options. In addition, the user needed to be knowledgeable in the particular configuration language and syntax so that the configuration file could be created. A novice user is naturally quickly frustrated by such a process.
Other software programs having similar requirements utilize a menu-driven interface for obtaining all of the necessary parameters. The use of menus, however, can result in a time-consuming and, oftentimes, frustrating process.